
Book— ■- 






LIFE AMD BEATH 



AIUIAHAM LINCOLN: 



A. SITRMON 



B^sr R,EA7". C COOKIE, ID 




A SERMON 



LIFE AND DEATH 



Abraham Lincoln, 



LATE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES. 



DELIVERED IN SMYRNA, DELAWARE, 



CTTJISriHl 1, 1865. 



By rev. C. COOKE, D.D. 



PHILADELPHIA: 
FEINTED BY JOHN EICHAEDS, 

NO. 122 NORTH SIXTH STREET. 
1865. 



.Cm 



COKRESPONDENCE. 



Smyrna, Del., June 7, 1865. 
Kev. Charles Cooke, D.D. 

Dear Sir : The undersigned, in behalf of the Trustees of Asbury M.E. 
Church, Smyrna, and that of many members of your congregation, 
who heard, with much interest and profit, your Sermon delivered on 
the occasion of the National Fast, on Thursday morning, 1st inst., 
respectfully and earnestly request a copy of the same for publication 
and distribution. 

Permit us, personally, to express the hope that you will grant this 
request. 

"We beg leave to subscribe ourselves, 

Kespectfully and truly yours in Christian love, 

W. T. Collins, 
James P. Hofeecker, 
j. s. huefington, 
Thos. S. "Williams, 
J. W. Mariner. 



Smyrna, June 8, 1865. 
Dr. "W. T. Collins, Rev. Thos. S. Williams and others. 

B7'ethren: Yours of yesterday, requesting for publication a copy of 
my Sermon delivered on the day of National Humiliation is before 
me. Though not written for the press, a request from such a source, 
and so earnestly expressed, I am not at liberty to decline. 1 there- 
fore herewith place the manuscript in your hands. 

Very respectfully, &c., 

C. CoOKE. 



S E R M ]^. 



" Weep ye not for the dead, neither bemoan him; but weep sore for him that goeth 
AWAY : for he shall return no more, nor see his native country." Jeremiah 22 : 10. 

We meet to-day, in compliance with the recommendation 
of the President of the United States, to observe the day 
" in humiliation and mourning," in memory of his late pre- 
decessor, Abraham Lincoln, "that all may be occupied at 
the same tiaie in contemplation of his virtue, and in sorrow 
for his sudden and violent end." The Governor of the 
State of Delaware having also recommended, that we 
" humbly invoke the Great Euler of Nations to grant us his 
favor in the mitio-ation of the nation's ffrief" 

It is written both in the Old and New Testament, " Thou 
shalt not speak evil of the Euler of thy people ;" and in the 
Discipline of the church in which I have the honor of being 
a minister, we are taught that one of the evils for which a 
member may be expelled from her communion is, " speak- 
ing evil of magistrates or ministers ;" that is, official men in 
the State or the Church. In the same little manual the 
ministry are taught not to " mend," but " keep our rules." 
Professing to be a loyal citizen, an honest Christian, a Me- 
thodist of choice, and a minister by the grace of God, I 
shall address you in full view of this teaching and of my 
responsibilities. If any one, therefore, expects me to origi- 
nate or retail evil concerning Mr. Lincoln in this discourse, 
he will be mistaken. I did it not while he lived, and will 
not be rude enough to do it now he is dead. My Bible, my 
Chua-ch, and my self-respect forbid it. I shall, in speaking 



of him, ignore any faults he may have had — who has none ? 
— and say what good I can of him in truth. 

The President has designated this day as one of " humilia- 
tion and mourning," in view of " humbling ourselves before 
Almighty God, in order that the bereavement" the country 
has sustained " may be sanctified to the nation ;" or, in the 
language of the Governor, " in mitigation of the nation's 
grief." Now, if by the death of Mr. Lincoln the " country" 
has been " bereaved," according to the Proclamation of 
President Johnson, and the "nation" has cause to " grieve," 
according to that of Governor Saulsbury, my first duty, it 
seems to me, is to sketch the life of the deceased, that we 
may know whether the nation has cause to grieve on ac- 
count of her bereavement. That will not be preaching 
politics, will it? If it should be, the President and the 
Governor must take the responsibility. They have set me 
at this work. 

Abraham Lincoln was born of humble parents, on the 
12th of February, 1809, in Hardin County, Kentucky. 
When about seven years old, he went to school some six 
months to a teacher who could only give instruction in 
spelling, reading, and writing, the latter of which his young 
pupil does not seem to have attempted to learn. About 
this time the family removed to the State of Indiana, and 
soon had a cabin in the wilderness as their dwelling. 
" Abe," as he was then called, in about a year lost his esti- 
mable mother, to whom it is said he was much indebted for 
some of his best traits of character. In the solitudes of his 
desolate home, he spent his long winter evenings in reading 
such books as were within his reach. His stock of acquisi- 
tions was increased in learning to write by the generous 
teaching of a young man who chanced to come into the 
neighborhood. A stepmother now came into the family, 
but whether owing to his virtues or hers^ none of that jeal- 
ousy arose which, alas, too often makes home anything but 
an epitome of heaven. The new mother and son were as 
affectionately attached as if he had drawn the first draught 



of life in her maternal arms. Again another light pene- 
trated the darkness of young Lincoln's forest home, bring- 
ing to his knowledge the science of arithmetic. A short 
time was spent with the new teacher, and the education of 
the future President was " finished V Six months was the 
full extent of time spent by him in attendance at school; 
whatever else he learned was gathered amidst the toils and 
cares of life. 

The following is his own account of the first dollar he 
ever made. Having prepared a little flat-boat for trading, 
he stood looking at his work, when two men came down to 
the river to await the passing of a steamer, with trunks 
and other baggage to be put aboard. They looked at his 
boat and said, " Will you take us and our trunks out to the 
steamer?" "Certainly," he said; for he was glad to have 
the chance of earning something. " I supposed," he relates, 
" that each would give me two or three bits. The trunks 
were put on my flat-boat, the passengers seated themselves 
on the trunks, and I sculled them out to the steamboat." 
All aboard, and the steamer about to start : " I called out 
that they had forgotten to pay me, when each of them 
threw half a dollar on the floor of my boat. That was an 
event to me, and the world seemed wider and fairer before 
me." He subsequently engaged to assist in another flat- 
boat expedition, at $10 per month. 

In 1830 the family removed to Illinois, a small farm was 
bought, and "Abe" proceeded to split the rails to inclose it. 
Hence the sobriquet, " The rail-splitter.'' 

When 22 years of age, he deemed it time to start out for 
himself, and, gathering up his all, left the old parental 
home. At first he aspired to no higher position than he 
had occupied; but his industry, probity, and skill led to 
preferments, and with each ascending ste^) the diligent use 
of every spare moment introduced him to richer stores of 
mental wealth, while replenishing his pockets with, if not 
" the one thing needful," at least a very needful thing. It 
was while making this progress in the employment of 

1* 



others he earned for himself the creditable title of " Honest 
Abe.'' The " Black-Hawk war" was on hand, and, in re- 
sponse to the call of the Governor of Illinois, he offered his 
services and was elected captain of a company. He was 
now, as politicians say, " before the people," and gradually 
rose to the position of postmaster, merchant, and member 
of the State Legislature. Having been made by the people 
a law-maA-er, he studied and became a \si\y-practitioner. In 
1836 he Was admitted to the bar, and the next year settled 
in Springfield, Illinois, where he remained, attending to the 
duties of his profession, till called out by his fellow-citizens 
to move in a still higher sphere. In 1858 he was a candi- 
date for Uinted States Senator, but the legislature, being 
opposed to him in politics, gave the honor to his compe- 
titor, the late Stephen A. Douglas, known in former years as 
" the little giant." His friends, regarding him as too valu- 
able a man to remain shut up in a law office in a country 
town, on the 16th of May, 1860, at the Eepublican National 
Convention at Chicago, nominated him as the Eepublican 
candidate for the Presidency, the highest civil office in the 
country, if not in the world. Being duly elected, on the 
4th of March, 1861, he was inaugurated President of the 
United States, the oath of office being administered by 
Chief Justice Taney. He took the reins of government in 
a stormy hour, nor did the tempest cease during the entire 
term of his administration. In 1864 he received a renomi- 
nation at the Convention in Baltimore, and having been 
again elected for a second term, was reinaugurated on the 
4th of March, 1865. 

In stating these naked facts, we have necessarily made 
some allusion to his mental capacities. Let us now notice 
more in detail what evidences he gave of a mind equal to 
the position to which, in the providence of the Supreme 
Euler, he was exalted. He has been called "a political 
mountebank ;" " a professional joker, whom nature intended 
for the ring of a circus, but whom a strange freak of popu- 
lar delusion elevated to the Presidency ;" '-a crowned. buf- 



foon ;" " a cowardly knave;" " a dastardly poltroon ;" and 
almost everything else but an intelligent gentleman. But 
while not a few have been lavish of abuse, many others, 
perhaps as free from prejudice, have expressed a very diffe- 
rent opinion. They have supposed, to speak in a less skep- 
tical style, that the God of Nature, not Nature herself, 
formed his mind with w4se purposes, and invested it with 
strength for the exigencies through which it was to pass ; 
and that this native power of intellect burst the circum- 
stantial fetters in which it was bound, like Samson snapped 
the cords with which the Philistines hoped to have secured 
him, and by this extraordinary mental energy he rose from 
obscurity to eminence, and not by any freak of " j^opular 
delusion" whatever. Mr. Lincoln has been accused and 
treated as a very bad man, not worthy to live. But we have 
now to say that, if that charge can be verified, most assur- 
edly that of being a fool cannot. Without an education to 
start with; without wealth to buy, in this venal age, sus- 
taining patronage ; without family antecedents to give him 
prestige ] he rose to, and sustained himself in, the highest 
office known among men. These are facts not to be ac- 
counted for if his was a weak intellect — if he was little more 
than an imbecile. A writer in the North American Eeview 
of last year says : " Never did a President enter upon office 
with less means at his command, outside his own strength 
of heart and steadiness of understanding. All that was 
known of him was that he was a good stump-speaker, 
nominated for his availability; that is, because he had no 
history ; and chosen by a party wuth whose more extreme 
opinions he was not in sympathy. Certainly no one ever en- 
tered upon office with so few resources of power in the past, 
and so many materials of weakness in the present." 

With respect to his moral and religious character we should 
have more to say than in regard to his humble origin, 
astonishing rise, and intellectual status. I regret, however, 
that the materials are too meagre to enable me to say much 
without drawing largely on mere surmise, or the extrava- 



8 



gant laudations of political eulogists, who have dipped their 
l^ens in the more briliant colors in describing his virtues to 
compensate for the dark shading of the picture by malig- 
nant foes. I am, however, under no obligations either to 
color highl}^ my own delineations or to caricature him as a 
monster thirsting for human blood ! If he was all his ardent 
admirers represent him to have been, he was a saint worthy 
to be canonized; but if what his foes insisted he was, he 
was a tyrant unworthy to live, and met a just fate. We 
shall probably find the truth midway between these ex- 
tremes. So far as I can learn, Mr. Lincoln never was an 
immoral man. A religious editor of a weekly journal, 
speaking of his assassination in a theatre^ judiciously says : 
" Millions of hearts have felt the wish, though in most cases 
it has not been uttered, that the sad event of the President's 
receiving his deathblow had been in some other place. A 
good many not very superstitious people feel that a theatre 
is not a very good place to die in ; that the transition from 
the 25lay-house to the bar of God is fearfully abrupt. We 
fancy a good many of those who frequent the theatre would 
prefer that his assassination had been in the church at 
public worship, or in his family circle^ or even in the council 
of his cabinet occupied with public affairs." We should be 
cautious, however, in forming a judgment drawn from such 
a solitary circuinstance y or, if it was his habit, from such a 
solitary hahit^ of what the self-denying followers of Christ 
will consider an impropriety. It is but just that one's 
general conduct should form the basis of judgment ; for it is 
really that that forms the character. Let us, then, with 
such lights as we have search for the moral and religious 
character of the lamented and honored dead. 

It is said that he was a pew-holder and a Bible-class 
teacher in the Presbyterian church at Springfield, though 
not a member on account of some local reason. That he 
was a firm believer in the Bible as a divine revelation, and 
in its Author as exercising not only a general but special 
providence in the affairs of men, there is abundant reason 



to believe. While he very properly believed it was the duty 
of men of all grades to know and obey the Divine will, he 
as firmly believed that all, in every relation, are dependent 
on God for wisdom and strength to meet their obligations. 
On leaving his Western home to take upon him the respon- 
sibilities of his high office, he uttered the following language: 
*' A duty devolves upon me which is perhaps greater than 
that which has devolved upon any other man since the days 
of Washington. He never would have succeeded except for 
the aid of Divine Providence, upon which he at all times 
relied. I feel that I cannot succeed without the same Di- 
vine aid which sustained him ; and in the same Almighty 
being I place my reliance for support; and I \\o\)& you, my 
friends, will all pray that I may receive that Divine assist- 
ance, without which I cannot succeed, but with which suc- 
cess is certain." On his way to the Capital, as he passed 
through different cities, and met the crowds who came out 
to welcome him, he seemed full of ihe pious thought, and 
from the abundance of his heart his mouth again and again 
expressed his trust in God. At Buffalo he used this lan- 
guage : " Your worthy Mayor has thought fit to express the 
hope that I may be able to relieve the country from the 
present, or, I should say, the threatened difficulties. I am 
sure I bring a heart true to the work. For the ability to 
perform it, I trust in that Supreme Being who has never 
forsaken this favored land, through the instrumentality of 
this great and intelligent people. Without that assistance 
I surely should fail; with it I cannot." 

After his inauguration, do we find him forgetful of his 
dependence and derelict of his duty still to trust God? On 
the 12th of August he recommended a day of fasting and 
prayer, and used the following language : " When our own 
beloved country, once, by the blessing of God, united, pros- 
perous, and happy, is now afflicted with civil war, it is 
peculiarly fit- for us to recognize the hand of God in this 
terrible visitation, and, in sorrowful remembrance of our 
own faults and crimes as a nation and as individuals, to 



10 



humble ourselves before him and to pray for his mercy — to 
pray that we may be spared further punishment, though 
most justly deserved/' Similar language characterizes all 
his proclamations for fasting, prayer, or thanksgiving. On 
the 16th of November, 1862, an order was issued to the sol- 
diers and sailors, recommending and enjoining, as com- 
mander-in-chief, a proper observance of the Sabbath, and 
concludes thus : " The discipline and character of the na- 
tional forces should not suffer, nor the cause they defend be 
imperilled, by the profanation of the day or name of the 
Most High. ' At this time of public distress,' adopting the 
words of Washington in 1776, 'men may find enough to do 
in the service of Grod and their country without abandoning 
themselves to vice and immorality.' " A gentleman, who 
professes to know, recently uttered the following : " No 
wrecked mariner, storm-tossed 'mid ocean upon a raft, ever 
felt more thoroughly his dependence, and that of those 
around him, upon God, than Abraham Lincoln felt the de- 
pendence of this nation and himself." The following I take 
from a religious periodical : " Probably no President of the 
United States was ever the subject of more earnest prayers 
than has been Abraham Lincoln, and from published state- 
ments it is gratifying to believe that those prayers have 
been answered. At a recent Sabbath-school convention in 
Massachusetts, a speaker stated that a friend of his, during 
an interview with Mr. Lincoln, asked him if he loved Jesus. 
The President buried his face in his handkerchief and wejit. 
He then said, ' When I left home to take this chair of state, 
I requested my countrymen to pray for me. I was not then 
a Christian. When my son died — the severest trial of my 
life — I was not a Christian. But when I went to Gettys- 
burg, and looked upon the graves of our dead heroes that 
had fallen in defence of their country, I then and there con- 
secrated myself to Christ. I do love Jesus' Eev. Mr. 
Adams, of Philadelphia, stated in his Thanksgiving Sermon 
that, having an appointment to meet the President at 5 
o'clock in the morning, he went a quarter of an hour before 



11 



the time. While waiting for the hour, he heard a voice in 
the next room as if in conversation, and asked the servant, 
' Who is talking in the next room V ' It is the President, 
sir.' 'Is anybody with him?' ' ^o, sir; he is reading 
the Bible.' ' Is that his habit so early in the morning V 
' Yes, sir; he spends every morning, from 4 o'clock to 5, in 
reading the Scriptures and prayer.' " If these statements 
are true, then was Mr. Lincoln a Christian. It was his 
error, however, I am sorry to say, as it is that of too many 
in high positions, not to have identified himself with the 
Church by a public profession of Christian faith. Alas, that 
in this respect he should have followed in the footsteps of 
all his illustrious predecessors, Washington only excepted. 
The example has been injurious. 

It would be obviously wrong, on such an occasion, to 
make no allusion to the late President as a statesman. I do 
not think myself, however, competent to discuss this topic 
either profitably or acceptably. I shall, therefore, say but 
little about it. The more am I inclined to this course from 
the fact, that it would be impossible for me to do it, in a 
community where the view^s of the people are so conflicting, 
without giving offence. I could not hope to make a con- 
vert, and if I did, the good that would result is not appa- 
rent. I may be permitted, however, I trust without giving 
offence, to express an opinion. Homer, the justly renowned 
author of the Iliad and Odyssey, is said to have earned his 
bread by singing ballads from door to door, no one appre- 
ciating his remarkable talents while he lived ; but after his 
death seven cities contended for the honor of giving birth 
to so great a man ! If I am not mistaken, history will do 
Abraham Lincoln the justice to own his abilities as a states- 
man, by many of his countrymen denied him during life. 

It will be reasonably expected that I should say some- 
thing on the exciting ^o^zc which runs like a thread through 
Mr. Lincoln's entire history ; not on its merits or demerits, 
but in its relations to and influence upon him. He was 
always an apparently sincere anti-slavery man. If it be true 



12 



that his parents were so before him, and on that account 
left Kentucky, and settled first in Indiana and then in Illi- 
nois, it may have been to parental training he was first in- 
debted for his opposition to the institution. He soon, and 
without disguise, announced his views, and never after 
abated his maintenance of them. There are those who can 
be pro-slaveryists or abolitionists by turns, just as interest 
or the popular voice dictates. Whether right or wrong, 
Mr. Lincoln had but one creed on the subject. With this, 
well understood, he was elected President. It was, how- 
ever, with the understanding that, whatever his moral views 
were, he would not, unless necessity compelled, interfere 
with the institution in the States. It was a matter of theirs. 
He did, however, believe it was not unconstitutional to ex- 
clude it from any and all of the new territories that might 
knock at the door to be admitted to the Federal Union, and 
also from the District of Columbia. When he found the 
rebellion a much more formidable evil than he or any one 
else at first supposed it would be, he first called out more 
troops, then employed colored soldiers, and finally issued — 
purely, he declared, " as a war measxtre'' — his emancij^ation 
proclamations of Sej)tember, 1862, and January 1st, 1863. 
He had previously proposed that it should be gradual, and 
that compensation should be made. As this was nu^'ac- 
cepted, his next step was that for which he has received the 
most blame, and will probably receive in the end the highest 
praise. All I have to say is, I believe no man was ever 
more honest in the discharge of duty than he was in these 
measures. Whether they were wise the future will deter- 
mine. As a Christian minister, I have no more to do here 
with these loar measures than I have with any that have suc- 
ceeded or failed since the breaking out of the war, or the 
political creed of any President. But I think I see the evi- 
dences of an honest, not an infallible mind, and that I am 
pleased to commend. 

Let us now contemplate for a moment Mr. Lincoln's tra- 
gical end. Every one knows that on the evening of April 



13 



14th, the anniversary of our Saviour's death by violence for 
the sins of mankind, he fell by the hand of an assassin, — a 
pistol-shot in the head. For whose sins did Ae die? Not 
surely for his own. What had he done as a man, or as the 
President of the United States, to deserve such a fate ? And 
yet his death, though not vicarious as was Christ's, was as 
truly providential. Eoman soldiers, who crucified the Sa- 
viour of the world, were only instruments in the hands of 
his murderers ; and the assassin of the President was but 
t^e willing agent of his murderers. Though the former 
was taken by wicked hands and slain, the event was provi- 
dential, and resulted most favorably to the world ; so the 
latter has fallen when human wisdom would have said his 
life was indispensable, but the Supreme Euler will cause the 
wrath of man to praise him, and make the death we mourn 
a blessing. Who were the guilty murderers of the Lord of 
life ? All such as said by word or deed, " His blood be on 
us and our children !" To whom is the shedding of Lin- 
coln's blood chargeable? To all those who have partici- 
pated in the sin of representing him as a tyrant, a knave, a 
buffoon, a villain, whose life was justly sought as he was on 
his way to Washington in 1861, and as justly taken in 
1865 ! — in whose behalf the only plea that can be set n^ is, 
tb t he was but little better than an idiot! It was such 
language that fanned the flame of unhallowed passion, that 
unchained savage ignorance, and culminated in the infamous 
plot whose daring success has filled the arching heavens 
with sighs and steeped our country in tears ! 

But let me say to you, as the Prophet did to his country- 
men on the occasion of Josiah's death : " Weep ye not for 
the dead, neither bemoan him ; but weep sore for him that 
goeth away : for he shall return no more, nor see his native 
country." 

Let us now turn our attention to the lessons of this Scrip- 
ture. We learn that though death — especially that of a 
virtuous ruler, such as the King of Judah was — is a suitable 
occasion for National grief and weeping, there are other 

2 



14 



and greater reasons for shedding tears. The death of the 
pious young prince was, indeed, a sufficient cause for grief. 
His father and grandfather who preceded him in the throne 
of Judah were exceedingly wicked, and caused much evil to 
abound through the kingdom, and especially in the capital 
— at Jerusalem — whose very streets, the sacred historian 
informs us, were made to flow with blood ! Josiah, though 
but eight years old when the people of the land made him 
king, was a pious youth. When he came to manhood, he 
adopted prompt measures to undo the mischief of his pre- 
decessors, to restore the worship of the true God, and to 
give prosperity to the whole country. After a reign of 
thirty-one years, during which the whole face of things was 
changed for the better, he was slain in battle. It was the 
error of his reign to go into the conflict. But he went and 
fell; and the history informs us, that " all Judah and Jeru- 
salem mourned for" him. And well they might, for a dark 
cloud hung in the horizon, only held back for his sake, 
which soon blackened the whole heavens, and burst in vio- 
lence upon the land. Jehoahaz, otherwise called Shallum, 
succeeded, was taken prisoner by Pharaoh, King of Egypt, 
and carried away into captivity, never to return ! Jehoia- 
kim, also called Eliakim, the brother of the exiled Shallum, 
was placed upon the throne, under a heavy pecuniary tri- 
bute by the Egyptian conqueror, but after an inefficient 
reign of a few years was bound in chains and carried to 
Babylon by Nebuchadnezzar. Jehoiachin, his son, but a 
boy, was made king in his stead, and enjoyed its honors but 
a few months, when he, too, with the wealth of the temple, 
was carried to Babylon. He was succeeded by Zedekiah, of 
whom it is written, "He stiff'ened his neck and hardened his 
heart from turning unto the Lord Grod of Israel." Under 
this administration the whole land became corrupt. In 
Divine displeasure the Chaldeans came up to Jerusalem, 
put many to the sword — having no compassion for "young 
man or maiden, old man, or him that stoopeth for age" — 
burnt the temple built by the illustrious Solomon, and, 



15 



tinally carried the remnant left in hopeless captivity to Ba- 
bylon. Their deluded king was captured after his army 
was defeated, his children slain before his eyes, his eyes put 
out, and he taken, in total darkness and without sympathy, 
to end his ignominious life in a strange land. Well might 
the " weeping Prophet," as he is very properly called, see- 
ing such dire calamity coming upon his church and country, 
exclaim, " Oh, that my head were waters and mine eyes a 
fountain of tears, that I might weep day and night for the 
slain of the daughter of my people I" 

Death, indeed, is always a just occasion for mourning. 
That of the wicked is especially so. With them it is the end 
of probation. Up to that period there is space for repent- 
ance in most instances, and a remedy is at hand for the ills 
inflicted by sin. But then '' the harvest is past '/' " there 
remaineth no more sacrifice for sin, but a fearful looking for 
of judgment and fiery indignation." The hopeless soul is 
banished from its only theatre of trial, and despair, like the 
fabled vulture, flaps its raven wings over its miserable 
victim, shutting out the last gleam of hope from its dismal 
abode. It not only once was on its probation ; but, though 
unhappy by reason of sin, its cup was not unmixed with 
pleasure. It had at least dreams of happiness, and many 
waking pleasures. Some of its very vices were occasions 
of joy and means of sordid bliss. But, disembodied, its cup 
is full of bitterness. There is no longer an appetite to be 
indulged, nor a splenetic feeling, whose gratification was 
once wont to afford some diabolical enjoyment, that can 
now be gratified. 

" Ah, then, its torment must transcend 
The reach of time — despair a distant end ! 
With dreadful growth shoot forward and arise 
Where thought can't follow, and bold fancy dies !" 

Could the lost soul have another trial, however distant in 
time, and however short in duration; though we might 
weep for it, our sorrow would not be as those who have no 



16 



hope. Could it have any hope in the future, or any mix- 
ture of enjoyment in its overflowing cup of grief, or any 
occasional respite in its agony, our tears might be checked. 
But, alas, hopeless misery is a thought of woe ! Surely, 
then, it is not unmanly to weep for those who die in their 
sins — who are driven away in their wickedness! 

Is it not also proper to weep for the pious dead, to " be- 
moan Mmf There are deaths that are a national loss, at 
least for the time being. This is the teaching of both sacred 
and profane history. A good ruler, an honest and compe- 
tent jndge, a great statesman, or a pious and talented min- 
ister of the Gospel, in the prime of life, and in the midst of 
usefulness, is a great blessing. Indeed, every good man, 
however obscure, is an invaluable national blessing. All 
such are the <' salt of the earth" — the "light of the world." 
When this salt has lost its savor, or this light has been put 
out by the chilling breath of death, is it not justifiable to 
weep ? The wail that has swept over this land has found 
an echo beyond the seas. And is there a heart in all this 
great Eepublic, unless it should be among those who parti- 
cipated in or sympathized with the murder of our Presi- 
dent, that does not beat in unison with the sighs of this 
stricken land? Is there a man, woman, or child capable of 
appreciating the national loss that has not shed a tear of 
grief? The death of the good is in many instances a great 
loss to families, individuals, or communities. The father, 
whose personal skill and industry supplied the wants of a 
dependent family — a son, the hope of aged parents and the 
pride of affectionate sisters, j^erhaps the support of a wi- 
dowed mother — a wife, the charm of society, the angel 
saviour of her husband, and the mother of his little children 
— dies ! Will any one be cruel enough to rebuke a tear, or 
can any one be hard enough not to shed one ? Was it no just 
cause lor trouble when that greatest and best of Preachers 
— " the true light that enhghteneth every man that cometh 
into the world" — was martyred ? Was it no cause of weep- 
ing w^hen the Christian martyrs fell at their posts, leading 



17 



forth the sacramental host in the great battle of truth against 
error, light against darkness, righteousness against vice, and 
happiness against misery? It not unfrequently happens 
that a congregation mainly leans on one man — the key to 
the arch which holds up the whole edifice. Eemove it, and 
calamitous are the results. At such a loss there is not only 
no impropriety in tears, but there would be criminality in 
withholding them. And what is true of churches is no less 
so of communities. When Dorcas, a benevolent lady of 
Joppa, died, a messenger was sent to the Apostle Peter re- 
questing his presence. It is said that when he came, " all 
the widows stood by him weeping, and showing the coats and 
garments which Dorcas made while she was with them." 
Do we find the Apostle rebuking their tears? Could you 
have seen him, who had learned of Jesus, doubtless you 
Avould have recorded, as the Evangelist did of the Master — 
Feter wept, Solomon informs us that a " poor wise man" 
once delivered a besieged city, though a great king had 
encamped about and built great bulwarks against it. Sup- 
pose he had died just when his wisdom was in requisition, 
would not the loss of a city have been a cause of mourning? 
But we ought not to mourn for the dead as for the living. 
David mourned for his son, as only a father can mourn, 
while he lived and suffered ; but when death put a period 
to his sufferings, like a philosopher, and more than a philo- 
sopher; like one taught of God, he said : " Now he is dead, 
wherefore should I fast ? Can I bring him back again ? He 
cannot come to me, but I shall go to him I" In God's hands 
are the issues of Ufe and death; hence death is always a pro- 
vidential occurrence. True, he may permit a very wicked 
.man to be the immediate instrument; but he cannot exer- 
cise his instrumentality till God sees that the greater good 
may result. See this doctrine exemplified in the death of 
our Lord. Before his hour had come, however much his 
enemies thirsted for his blood, they were not permitted to 
tap the fountain of life. Did they then do the bidding of 
Heaven ? Not they, indeed. To will was present with 



18 



them before, but they found not the opportunity. AVhen 
they did find, they but carried out their own murderous 
purpose. And yet death, in that instance, was not only 
providential, but was the greatest favor ever shown to the 
human race. How^ever sad the hearts of the disciples were, 
and right it was to weep Avhen the Shepherd was smitten 
and the sheep scattered, there was much greater cause to 
be sad in view of his murderers. Even should the victim 
be taken away with a stroke, and entirely unprepared, it 
should be remembered that God sees the end from the be- 
ginning, and will not suffer the destroying angel to breathe 
upon a living man he knows will ever return to him should 
he live, or who does not at the time of his death deserve all 
he suffers. This should so far, at least, check our grief as 
to restrain us from saying, in the spirit of complaint, 
"What doest thou?'' In the death of a good man there is 
always this soothing thought, though we do not see it, 
" Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his saints." 
However valuable their lives may have been, their death 
may have a higher worth. Should we, then, not say with 
Job: "The Lord gave, and the Lord hath taken away; 
blessed be the name of the Lord !" The death of the Mar- 
tyrs was like putting out the lights of the world; and it 
was due to their memory that the Church should mourn. 
But their blood was the seed out of which other and more 
flourishing churches grew. Dr. Coke was on his way to 
India to establish Christian Missions, when he was found, 
one morning, dead in his berth. They buried him in the 
Indian Ocean. It was a sad event to the young missiona- 
ries he was taking out? They could not return, and were 
thrown at once upon their own resources. Instead of re- 
maining boys and trusting to a father's judgment, they had 
to swim or sink. They chose the former, and it made men 
of them, and the Mission still exists. 

There is yet to be considered the great fact, that, " Blessed 
are the dead who die in the Lord ; they rest from their 
labors, and their works do follow them." They have gone 



19 



where " the wicked cease to trouble, and the weary are at 
rest I" The wicked here trouble themselves, trouble the 
Nation, trouble the Church, trouble their neighbors; they 
are the troublers of the world. But the pious dead get be- 
yond the reach of their influence, and for that reason we 
should check our sorrow on their account. Theirs, how- 
ever, is more than a release from annoyance— it is " resty 
From the hour of man's apostasy from God he has been 
doomed to labor and get his bread by the sweat of his face. 
There are a few exceptions to the rule always, who get 
their living by the labor of others. They may have inhe- 
rited their possessions, or they may be the fruit of honest 
industry; in either case, they are released from physical 
toil. But their rest is disturbed. They hold the means of 
its continuance by precarious cords — cords which often 
break and reduce them to the painful necessity of returning 
to the drudgeries of life, and mingling with the toiling mil- 
lions, who rise early, sit up late, and eat the bread of care- 
fulness and exhausting effort. From all this, the dead in 
Christ rest Here also jjam is as common as toil. Scarcely 
any one escapes it entirely, while the many inherit no fruit 
of the fall more abundantly. And not a few spend life in 
torture. When night comes and invites the weary to restj 
they wish for day. And when morning dawns, its light 
reveals their case in painful contrast with every sentient 
object around them. From all this there is rest in heaven 
for the people of God. There is another class of evils, if 
possible, less bearable than, any of these. " The spirit of a 
man may sustain his infirmities, but a loounded spirit who 
cau bear ?" A manly will, a hopeful heart, and a conscience 
void of offence toward God and man, will enable one to 
endure any amount of physical suffering ; but when the 
soul itself is the seat of conscious misery, whither can we go 
for relief or support? A sense of guilt to an awakened 
spirit, it is common to say, is " a burden too intolerable to 
be borne." But even the virtuous, by painful experience, 
know themselves to be in a vale of tears. Nor is it possible 



20 



to occupy a position in this world free from some source of 
trouble — I should rather say, from every source. There is 
the painful care of wealth, the annoying disadvantages of 
poverty, with the i^erils connected with each; there is the 
distraction of office, and the' chagrin of disappointment; 
there are the temptations of invisible spirits, and the cor- 
roding passions of a diseased nature. No matter what we 
are, who we are, or where we are, we are doomed to have 
more or less mental disquietude. But, from all this, death 
removes the righteous to a blessed rest. In heaven there 
is a perfect release from physical aiid mental toil and suffer- 
ing. But is this negative happiness the sum of heavenly 
bliss ? If it be, then is man less perfect in heaven than on 
earth; for unquestionably here our happiness is not mere 
freedom from toil and pain. If that Avere so, the trees of 
the forest are happier than those to whom the Lord says : 
" Happy art thou, O Israel; who is like unto thee, people, 
saved by the Lord." We ask, then, in what does the addi- 
tional bliss of heaven consist? We confess there is a veil 
over our face, so that we cannot see the excellent glory that 
shall be revealed in the saints. For " it doth not yet ap- 
pear what we shall be; but we know that when he shall 
appear we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is." 
So wrote St. John concerning the future state of the good. 
But how the inhabitants of heaven will be employed, and 
to what new sources of refined delight they will be admitted, 
we have no adequate information. But all the revelations 
we have convey the idea, that there will be a ^^ fulness of 
joy," and that this will last ^^ forcvermore !'' Can we, then, 
weep more than tears of respect for the pious dead, accom- 
panied with tears of sympathy for the bereft, and tears of 
sorrow for our own loss ? 

The Prophet plainly enough teaches, that there is a pro- 
priety in the indulgence of more p>ungent grief for the living. 
All Judah mourned for Josiah, but certainly there was, as 
we have seen, greater cause to lament the fate of his suc- 
cessors and the people they ruined. It is equally appro- 



21 



priate to mourn over other sinners. They are going away 
from God, while the pious dead have gone to Him. Jesus 
prayed to be received to the glory he had with the Father 
before the world was, and assured his disciples that where 
he would be, in the spirit world, there they should be also. 
And Paul evidently supposed that to depart from this world 
Avould be to enjoy the presence and glory of Christ. But, 
alas, the wicked, by forsaking him here, will go away from 
him in the great day of his wrath " into everlasting punish- 
ment I" 

They are also going aAvdy from their best interests. Every 
step in sin and folly's ways involves in moral impurity, de- 
prives the soul of peace, throws it open to the inroads of 
vice, and puts its every interest in jeopardy. Is not such 
a wanderer a spectacle better adapted to excite one's sor- 
row than the departure of a soul, full of joyous hope of a 
triumphant entrance into the home of the pure and happy, 
just about to take its flight to the better land? 

They are going away from heaven ! We are represented 
in the Holy Scriptures as strangers and sojourners in this 
world, travelling by different routes to another. One of 
these leads to heaven, the other to perdition. " Strait is 
the gate and narrow is the w^ay" that leads to life, while 
" wide is the gate and broad is the wa}- " that leads to death 
and destruction. In the latter, all who are not following 
the Saviour are walking, and every step taken in it leads 
from, not to, the Holy Land. Now, could we suppose our- 
selves spectators contemplating the two companies, ever 
and anon seeing one in the narrow way ending his journey, 
and being taken on angels' wings and borne away to a tem- 
ple of magnificence not made with hands, eternal in the 
heavens; but more frequently one in the broad way ending 
his, and being seized, amidst unutterable agonies, by har- 
pies, and dragged into darkness profound, whence might 
issue shrieks of despair and the saddest wailings ever heard ! 
Could we witness such scenes, over which class should we 
shed the most bitter tears ? Those of the one class are just 



22 



gettini^ home where they shall hunger no more, neither 
thirst any more; neither shall the sun light on them, nor 
any heat. For the Lamb which is in the midst of the throne 
shall feed them, and shall lead them unto living fountains of 
waters; and God shall wi^^e away all tears from their eyes. 
But those of the other are just entering upon a state of 
being in which there is nothing to make existence desirable, 
and where, therefore, there will be weeping, wailing, and 
gnashing of teeth forever. Oh, " weep not for the dead ; but 
weep sore for him that goeth awa}^" to perish ! Oh, to perish 
forever ! 

I would not chide the nation for the tears it has shed on 
the occasion of its late sad bereavement ; but I would have 
it I'emember that thousands have gone away from homes, 
and families, and friends, never more to return to see the 
loved ones they left behind, or to enjoy the fruits of their 
native country. Oh, how many widows and orphans, and 
sonless parents, there are scattered all over the land, from 
Maine to Texas, and from the Atlantic to the Pacific Ocean, 
whose stalwart relatives went forth flushed with hope of 
success, anticipating joyous family greetings when their 
term of service should have expired, who will return no 
more ! Let us indulge the luxury of weeping with them ; 
and, as far as we can, contribute to their relief Blessed is 
the hand that will brush their tears away ! 

J^ow let us turn our thoughts to the conquered and van- 
quished. Let us not sin in cultivating a wrong class of 
feelings toward them. This is not the place to discuss the 
duty of the Government in the premises — how severe or 
how lenient it should be — how it should balance between 
obligation and pity — how far it should go in vindicating the 
right as a terror to evil-doers, and forbearing to exact the 
utmost penalty of crime. We leave such questions to those 
who must meet and decide them for themselves, as those 
who are to give an account of their wor^ to the Supreme 
Ruler. But, as individuals, what is our duty ? There are, 
I think, two extremes to be avoided ; on the one hand, that 



23 



unpitying vindictiveness which would make it a joy and 
bliss to contemplate the woe and misery that the offending 
South has brought upon itself, and which inspires the de- 
sire of revenge ; and, on the other, that mawkish sympa- 
thy for the miseries endured by the transgressors, which 
would instantly blot out every record of offence ] and, to 
assure offenders that they are cordially forgiven, would 
ignore the sufferers at home in the exuberant blandishments 
bestowed upon those who so lately sought our lives. If we 
guard against these extremes we shall do well for ourselves, 
for our country, and for the honor of our holy Christianity. 
The crime of the President's assassination was great, and 
doubtless involves many more in its guilt than the reckless 
man who so soon paid the forfeiture of his life. But in our 
mingled feelings of sorrow and indignation, let us not forget 
that it is misery which should wring from us our tears, and 
wherever it is there we should have a tear to shed. There 
are many sad hearts and desolate homes in the North — 
there are many more in the South ! There, too, are thou- 
sands of widows and orphans. There fierce War has spread 
a wider ruin than in the North. And there, it is natural to 
suppose, feelings of fiercer vengeance rankle in many a 
breast. Whether they thought they were right or not, it is 
not pleasant to be subdued. The feelings they probably 
indulge, therefore, are not likely to be favorable to their 
happiness or spiritual safety. In proportion, then, to their 
misery and danger should we mourn for them; aye, smd pray 
for them, too. Some of them may endure forfeitures at 
home, and others, like Shallum, may think it safe to flee 
from their native land to return no more. But let us not 
be vindictive even to them; and though we cannot pray for 
them as the martyred Saviour did for his murderers : " Fa- 
ther, forgive them, /or they know not what they do;" we may 
leave them safely in his hands, as he has said, " Vengeance 
is mine, I will repay ;" and pray that they may have repent- 
ance unto life. 

Thank God, our Country lives, though our President is 



24 



dead ; and he, we trust, though dead, shall live again ! As 
he lives in the hearts of his countrymen, that so he shall 
live forever in heaven ! Thank God, that though our coun- 
try has suffered and is still suffering, and the man whom 
the people delighted to honor lies cold and silent in his 
grave, Jesus, the Supreme Euler, lives, and saves, and 
reigns ! JS'o sinner's heart is so vile that He cannot pardon 
and renew; no one's circumstances so wrecked that he can- 
not turn to profit; no widow's home is so desolate that his 
presence cannot cheer, nor helpless orphan's wail so sad that 
he cannot change to a song of joy. Let us commend the 
sorrowing to Him, and invoke His blessing upon them. 
Let us obey and trust Him ; then may you each say, — and 
oh, may it awake an echo in my own case, — 

" When the pangs of death assail me, 

Weep not for me. 
Christ is mine ; He cannot fail me ; 

Weep not for me. 
Yes, though gin and doubt endeavor 
From his love my soul to sever, 
Jesus is my strength forever ! 

Weep not for me." 



LB S '12 



LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 




011 837 562 2 



